Nightmares

A Harry Potter Fanfict

Romione

Post-war one-shot of how Hermione and Ron cope with their past. Because you can't spell heRmiONe without RON.

He grabbed Hermione's arm and ran, dragging her along, the snake slithering close behind…And then she tripped and they fell into a pile of rubble. He took one glance at Nagini, ready to strike, and clamped one hand over Hermione's exposed neck, desperately trying to shift himself to shield her body. But too late. Nagini had struck, leaving bloody gashes on her face…

Ron sat up. He was sweating. His hands were clammy, his heart was palpitating, and he was panting. With a storm raging outside, it took him a moment to register that he was in the safety of his room, the war was over, and Neville had killed the snake before it killed anyone else.

Ever since he came back, Ron had been haunted by post-war nightmares, in which most of them Hermione got killed. He couldn't help it – thinking of her. She just kept popping up in his head. Perhaps it was because of his minor crush on her in their Hogwarts days that he had started worrying about her safety and, since the war, thinking of her more.

She's safe, he reminded himself, going back to sleep.

He was running down the corridor with Harry and Hermione during the final battle at Hogwarts. Curses and hexes flew all around them. And he saw. Fenrir Greyback at the throat of Lavender Brown. But this time, it was somehow Hermione slumped unconscious on the floor as Greyback bit down on her neck. Her eyelids snapped open, revealing her bloodshot, terror-stricken eyes as she screamed in pain.

Ron bolted upright. The scream had been real. He tore out of his room and to Hermione's, hurtling through her door just as she shrieked again.

"No! NO!"

Hermione was cowering in the corner of her bed shaking. She screamed again and clutched her left arm where the word 'mudblood' had been carved in. Ron knew. She was reliving her torture at Malfoy Manor.

"Hermione – "

Her head flicked to his direction and she let out a startled gasp.

"No! Not Ron!" She looked at him beseechingly. "RUN! She'll kill you! NO!"

"Hermione, it's ok. There's no one here. You-know-who is gone. Bellatrix is gone. It's ok. You're safe,' Ron pleaded, taking slow steps towards her. "Hermione…" he murmured, pulling her close and whispering words of comfort. After a while, she calmed down, tears streaming down her face.

"She keeps coming back for me…" she sobbed. "She's still out there. It's…torture…feeling the c-cr-ruciatus over and over, and she cuts it into my arm again and again… And you come out to save me and then – then…oh Ron…" She buried her face in his chest and broke into hysterical sobs.

"S-sometimes after Dobby has apparated at Shell Cottage you're there with the d-dagger wedged in your chest…and another time she t-tortured you instead of m-me, and…" she started crying even harder.

Ron wrapped his arms even tighter around Hermione and stroked the back of her head gently. "It's alright," he whispered, "I'm not dead."

She breathed heavily, trying to calm herself down. Lightning and thunder broke her calamity and she shook her head violently, wringing her hands. "No no NO! Don't save me! NO! Please…please stop! Please! End This!"

"It's over," Ron said consolingly. "You're safe," he added softly, his voice almost a whisper now, "and I will always be there to save you."

And then he kissed her. Tenderly.

And he felt her relaxing in his arms. She stopped thrashing about, and instead wrapped her arms around his neck and responded passionately.

It seemed as if the entire night had passed when they broke apart. The storm had subsided into a light drizzle and the atmosphere was otherwise peaceful.

"Hermione?"

"Mmhmm?"

"I love you."

She did not respond, except to sink further into the depths of his embrace…

"Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay like this."

"All night?"

"Forever."